Ohio panel set use of force guidelines

By MARC KOVACDix Capital Bureau

Saturday

Aug 29, 2015 at 4:00 AM

COLUMBUS -- A state panel appointed by Gov. John Kasich following police shooting incidents in Ohio and nationally signed off on policy statements Friday providing guidelines for officers on the use of force.

The initial minimum standards, adopted by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board during a session in Columbus, deal with instances when law enforcement could use deadly force to defend themselves or others from serious harm or death.

The action marked the completion of the first-ever state standards for law enforcement, said Ohio Department of Public Safety Director John Born.

"Fortunately, most agencies in Ohio have standards that either meet or exceed (the new standards)," he added. "But what we're really after is trying to raise the bar so that those agencies that don't have these policy statements or those other elements are able to have a good guidepost for where they need to be."

Former state Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), who served as co-chairwoman of the advisory board, said the standards should reassure residents that action is being taken to improve community-police relations.

"It's the first time in Ohio's history that any policies have been set that will go out statewide," she said. "... We're going to have to get out there and make sure the community knows that this has happened and this is a starting point, it's certainly not the ending point."

She added, "It should give them great comfort that from the task force from January-April, and now, from April to now, that we are taking action ... to give some (assurance) to the community that they will be protected and then also to law enforcement as well. ..."

The action Friday also capped a review process launched by Kasich in December, shortly after the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer called to a city park following a report that the youngster was waving a gun at passersby. The firearm turned out to be a toy.

The incident and others involving black men elsewhere in Ohio and in Missouri and New York have sparked protests and, at times, clashes with and vocal criticism of law enforcement.

Kasich initially created a task force to study community and police relations and offer recommendations for improvements. That group issued a final report, with hundreds of pages of recommendations in seven broad areas -- for example, ensuring agencies and officers are held accountable for their actions, improving community understanding of law enforcement procedures, increasing trust between officers and the communities they serve and increasing and improving police training.

In April, Kasich signed an executive order creating the advisory board to continue the community-police relations efforts, calling on the new group to work on statewide standards for the use of deadly force by officers.

Minimum standards OK'd by the board Friday include limiting use of the latter to situations where officers are defending themselves or others from serious physical injury or death. A hiring and recruitment standard seeks to ensure the work forces of local law enforcement agencies reflect the communities they serve.

The new policy statements will be distributed to local police and sheriff's departments. Agencies will be asked to adopt the standards and implement training and compliance measures to make sure officers are following them.

"At some point there's going to be mandates in training, that's coming down the road," said Oregon City Police Chief Michael Navarre, a member of the advisory board. "Unfortunately, there are some departments that don't do a very good job training their officers right now. That's important, that's really what it comes down to, is training."

Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau Chief. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.

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